Five soldiers of Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) on Monday, May 11, appeared before a military tribunal where they were charged with assaulting civilians in a Kigali neighbourhood. The offences were committed earlier this year in Kangondo 2 village, Nyarutarama cell in Remera sector, Gasabo District, according to military prosecution.

The trial in which the accused soldiers – who are all at the rank of private – were joined by two civilian accomplices, was at the Military High Court in Nyarugunga, Kicukiro District.

The group is accused of conspiring to commit different acts of aggression against the residents of the area commonly known as Bannyahe with all crimes having been committed during the month of March, according to prosecution.

The group is accused of conspiring to commit different acts of aggression against the residents of the area commonly known as Bannyahe (Dan Nsengiyumva)

They were all arrested at the beginning of April.

Two soldiers; Nishimwe and Patrick Ndayishimiye whom military prosecution said were the prime suspects, were charged with rape, robbery, creating and being part of a criminal group, beating and injuring people, trespass, as well as abandoning their patrol stations and not respecting its regulations.

The other three; Francois Gatete, John Gahirwa, and Theoneste Twagirimana; along with two local security officers; Donat Ntakaziraho and Diane Mukamulisa were charged with being accessories to crimes committed by the duo.

The soldiers were also charged with being part of a criminal group, trespass abandoning their patrol stations, and complicity to robbery.

According to prosecution, the three soldiers offered protection for Nishimwe and Ndayishimiye while they raped women, while Ntakaziraho and Mukamulisa guided the two masterminds on which people to assault from the community.

The soldiers were also charged with being part of a criminal group, trespass abandoning their patrol stations, and complicity to robbery (Dan Nsengiyumva)

Mukamulisa was not present in court after she was released from detention to be able to take care of an infant she is currently nursing.

Explaining how the crimes were committed, the prosecutor Jean Bosco Imaniraguha said that on different dates in March, the soldiers were deployed on night patrol in specific parts of Gasabo district, but they left their stations and went to Kangondo 2 where they perpetrated the crimes they are charged with.

One time, according to the prosecutor, Ndayishimiye and Nishimwe broke into the home of one of the residents, forced the husband out and Nishimwe stayed inside the house raping the wife.

Ndayishimiye stayed outside beating the husband, prosecutors said.

The trial was held in the premises of the Military High Court in Kanombe, Kicukiro District (Dan Nsengiyumva).

Another time, Nishimwe and other soldiers went to another home belonging to two other women.

Here, Nishimwe is said to have raped one of the women, while his colleagues beat up the other.

On some occasions, according to the prosecutor, the other soldiers were around and did not stop their colleagues from doing the crimes.

According to the military prosecutors, there was no doubt that the soldiers committed these atrocities with their accomplices because they were picked out by the victims from an identification parade.

The prosecutor also cited medical reports which confirmed that the people that claimed to have beaten by the soldiers were really beaten and injured.

The prosecution said that all the suspects, apart from Mukamulisa be remanded for 30 days as they conclude the investigations before the case can continue in substance.

In their defence, the accused denied participating in these crime, insisting that it could have been a case of mistaken identity.

Addressing court, Ndayishimye said he didn’t go to Kangondo 2 during the month of March, but rather was there in January and February.

In his defence, Nishimwe said he was in the barracks on some of the days that the prosecutor claims the crimes were committed.

For Gatete, he said he remembers working on patrol with Ndayishimye only once.

Gahirwa and Twagirimana said that they had not worked on the 12th of March, a day on which a one Shema was beaten and injured, as mentioned by prosecution.

On the other hand, Ntakaziraho the local security officer said he saw Ndayishimye beating people twice; but he said he didn’t see any of the soldiers raping anyone.

Ntakaziraho said he could not have been an accomplice of people he did not know well.

The lawyer to the accused, Moses Sebudandi, challenged the charges being levelled against his clients.

"There is no evidence to support the charge that these people conspired to form a criminal gang,” Sebudandi said, claiming that a criminal group must have a common aim, and there must be an effort to recruit for it, which was not the case with his clients.

He also capitalized on the Ntakaziraho’s (the local security officer) testimony where he said he did not see the soldiers raping.

Sebudandi still challenged the charges of abandoning patrol, saying that the leadership of the soldiers’ battalion did not confirm that they left duty stations.

The presiding judge said that the bail ruling will be held on the May 13.